Posted on 05/30/2009 12:50:06 PM PDT by greatdefender
ORLANDO, Fla. – There's more troubling news about hormone therapy for menopause symptoms: Lung cancer seems more likely to prove fatal in women who are taking estrogen-progestin pills, a study suggests.
Hormone users who developed lung cancer were 60 percent more likely to die from the disease as women who weren't taking hormones, according to results reported Saturday.
The new findings mean that smokers should stop taking hormones, and those who have not yet started hormones should give it careful thought, said Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He led the analysis and presented results at a meeting of the oncology society in Florida.
It's the latest finding from the Women's Health Initiative, a federal study that gave 16,608 women either Prempro or dummy pills. The study was stopped in 2002 when researchers saw more breast cancers in those on Prempro, the estrogen-progestin pill made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. They continue to follow what happens to women in the study.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
So?...Big whoop! I am **not** impressed!
The survival stats on lung cancer are soooooo abysmal that surviving lung cancer isn't going to influence my decision on hormone replacement therapy.
The protective action of HRT on the bones may reduce the risk of hip fractures ( and therefore increase longevity) to more than compensate for the infinitesimally small number of people who may survive lung cancer.
And...I believe I read that HRT reduces the incidence of colon cancer and that too may be more than enough to compensate for the decreased survival in lung cancer.
How about the Breast cancer??
They just want to make us old ladies, smokers or not; crazy.
Personally, I continue with the HRT. I started it in my 40s and I am now 62. I plan to continue it for the rest of my life. Personally, I feel that the increased protection again hip fracture, colon cancer, heart disease and stroke FAR, far outweigh any other cancer risk. ( In my case, my chances of breast cancer are actually **not** increased since I have taken HRT faithfully since my 40s.)
I will **not** take Fosomx or any other similar drug on a long term basis. The evidence in now plain that osteonecrosis of the mandible increases exponentially with every year on these drugs. Osteonecrosis of the mandible is a truly horrific condition, and one that I wish to avoid. In my opinion, I will stick with HRT, calcium and vitamin D supplements, and daily exercise.
If bone scans show beginning osteopenia then I would take Fosomax (or similar drug) only long enough to bring the bone scan back to within normal range and then I would stop the Fosomax.
Everything’s a trade-off.
Depends which illness you would pick.
I wonder if it’s just estrogen-progestin pills and not just estrogen.
Just one more thing that will give lawyers a field day.
I wonder if it is for synthetic hormones or if natural ones were included in the study. I am under the impression that it is only the synthetic ones that seem to cause all these problems.
They'll have to pry Estrogen from my cold dead hands; check this out [reparagraphed]:
"Estrogen is considered to play a significant role in women’s mental health. A conceptual model of how estrogen affects mood was suggested by Douma et al. 2005 based on their extensive literature review relating activity of endogenous, bio-identical and synthetic estrogen with mood and well-being.
"They concluded the sudden estrogen withdrawal, fluctuating estrogen, and periods of sustained estrogen low levels correlated with significant mood lowering. Clinical recovery from depression postpartum, perimenopause, and postmenopause was shown to be effective after levels of estrogen were stabilized and/or restored.
"In 2005 Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research of Australia published an article where it was found that a low Estrogen level in male lab mice may be one cause of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
"Research has found that when Estrogen levels were raised through the increased activity of the enzyme Aromatase in male lab mice, OCD rituals were dramatically decreased. Hypothalamic protein levels in the gene COMT are enhanced by increasing Estrogen levels which is believed to return lab mice that displayed OCD rituals to normal activity. Aromatase deficiency is ultimately suspected which is involved in the synthesis of Estrogen in humans and has therapeutic implications in humans having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder."
A few more reasons for me to continue with HRT.
Women are not allowed comfort prescriptions. Even if we are giving birth, pain medicine is frowned upon and we are encouraged to ‘go natural’. If I want HRT, and I am aware of the side effects I should be allowed to have it. No one ever tells guys not to take viagara or propecia for hair loss, but let a woman take HRT to prevent facial hair and everybody tells her she is wrong. After all, a bald man is a common enough sight, but a bearded lady is a genuine circus freak.
Been there, done that.
I was on HRT and developed Breast cancer which was NOT estrogen dependent. ... My oncologist took me off the hormones and I thought my life was over. I tried for a year, but the horrible symptoms and depression were more than I or my family could handle. I was half alive and miserable.
So I made a decision to go back, only at one half the strength I was on before the Breast cancer. I'm taking half of a half strength (very little) by cutting the pill in half. The second day back on, I had NO MORE symptoms, including hot flashes that never ceased.
My Doctors accepted my decision, since I am NOT THE ONLY ONE who couldn't tolerate not being "me"..
IMHO, it's the QUALITY of life and the exhuberance for it that is most important.
That's only my opinion..FWIW.
sw
Have you seen the Photos of the deformed fish from the boverload of estrogen in the waters!!!
I use the estrogen patch and it's wonderful and I feel so much better.
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